Matching
by Harpomatic
Summary: When their son gets sent to the principal's office, Cosima has to go see why he has been misbehaving in class.- A short drabble about Cosima and her son.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't see nearly enough family/parenting fics on here, so I thought I'd write one. Enjoy!**

Cosima was walking back into her office after a meeting when her cell phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket and saw Delphine on the caller ID, she swiped and answered,

"Hey, Delphine, what's up?"

"Not a lot, it's just that I got a call from the school; it seems that André has been sent to the principal's office, apparently for 'distracting other students'." Delphine sighed from the other end. Cosima furrowed her brows and sat down at her desk. Their six year old wasn't the type to cause trouble. Sure, he was sometimes too clever for his own good, like Cosima was at that age, but the boy took after Delphine more in the behavior department: he was quiet, observant and rather meek in front of others.

"So are they gonna send him back to class or…?" Cosima asked, not quite sure what the procedure was for in-school discipline nowadays. Delphine chuckled,

"They want one of us to come up there and talk to the principal. I'm kind of tied up at home right now," Cosima could hear Louise, their ten month old, giggling in the back ground, "so I was wondering if you could go?" Delphine asked.

"Sure, I'm not very busy today." Cosima agreed, she was also kind of curious to see how elementary schools penalized rambunctious first graders. Delphine thanked her and the two said goodbye before ending the phone call.

Cosima pulled into the school parking lot and entered the building. Colorful murals covered the walls of the hallway, bulletin boards with encouraging and informational pictures were mounted every few meters; the building had that distinct smell that Cosima always associated with schools, but she could never quite place what the source was, probably a mix of paper and cleaning supplies. She entered the front office and signed in. The woman at the front desk directed her towards the back of the office, where the principal's office was.

She walked to the office and saw André sitting on the bench outside of the door, his small backpack on the floor by his feet, which weren't quite touching the ground. Cosima was taken aback by how much the boy looked like Delphine. He was chewing on his bottom lip nervously, his doe eyes were staring at the ground. His hair was blonde, but it wasn't quite as curly as his maman's. Of course the boy looked like Delphine, he was hers biologically, but most of the time Cosima could see some of herself in both of her children, especially in their facial expressions. André made the same faces she did when he was angry or tired, he had her smile but Delphine's laugh. Louise had her laugh and her eyes lit up the same way Cosima's did when something caught her attention, the baby also, by some random chance, happened to have brown hair. Cosima never openly celebrated this trait, because she knew that regardless of biology, they were still her children no matter what, but it didn't hurt that one of them shared a physical feature with her.

Cosima walked closer to her son, who finally looked up. His eyes lit up with relief when he saw Cosima and not Delphine. Delphine wasn't strict by any stretch of the imagination, but Cosima brought levity to even the darkest of situations, and the boy knew that the meeting wouldn't be as tense with his mom present. André jumped up and hugged Cosima, his face nuzzled into her side. Cosima rubbed the top of his head,

"Hey, Andy." She greeted. The boy relaxed some more. Cosima only called him by his real name when he was in serious trouble, the rest of the time she used the nickname. He pulled away from his mom and looked up at her,

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do anything." He said frantically, still distraught over being sent to the office. He was definitely Delphine's son. Cosima pulled him back to her,

"Don't worry, I'm not mad. Let's just wait to see what the principal has to say, okay?" She reassured him. André nodded and they sat on the bench, her arm around his shoulders, until the office door opened and a woman, apparently the principal, ushered them in. The principal sat behind her desk and the two sat in the chairs opposite her. There was another woman who Cosima didn't know standing in the corner. Cosima introduced herself to the two women, and she found out that the mystery woman was actually her son's teacher.

"Alright, so what seems to be the problem?" Cosima asked, not quite sure which woman to look at, she decided on the principal. The teacher spoke up,

"André has been very disruptive in class recently, he's been distracting other students and keeping them from learning." She said. Cosima thought for a second, cocking her head to the side. The principal seemed nice, but she didn't like the vibe the teacher was giving off,

"How exactly has he been 'disrupting' class? Can I get specifics?" She asked.

"He gets up and walks around during instruction time, he talks to other students when I'm talking, and he refuses to listen when I give lessons." The teacher clarified. Cosima was a bit confused. This was unlike her normally attentive son. She looked to the boy, whose head was bowed,

"Is this true, Andy?" She asked. The boy nodded solemnly. Cosima looked back to the teacher,

"I don't want to tell you how to do your job or anything, but it seems like we've skipped a couple of steps here. I mean, I find it hard to believe that the first thing you do when a normally well behaved student acts up for the first time is send them to the principal's office. Isn't there a gradation of punishments or something? I'm a bit confused as to why the first time I'm hearing of this issue is in the principal's office. Couldn't you have emailed me or my wife to let us know that this was a problem?" She pressed. The teacher nodded,

"I gave your son multiple warnings over the course of several days to settle down, it escalated to this." She justified. Cosima was growing frustrated,

"Okay, I understand, but did you not think to let me or my wife know of this issue so we could help? We would have talked with him at home about it." She asked, trying to not take a tone with the woman.

"I just assumed that your son would listen when I asked, I mean he's smart, his test scores show it. The problem is that he's talking to other students when we do group activities. The teacher explained, holding up several pieces of paper that were presumably graded tests, each with a large '100' written on the top.

Andy, what's the deal? Why aren't you participating in class? Cosima asked gently. André looked to his mom,

"I'm bored." He said timidly. Cosima shook her head,

"That's not an excuse, Andy. The other kids need to learn and you can't be distracting them." She explained. André sank lower into his chair. Cosima pointed to one of the tests that his teacher was holding, "Your test scores are great, so why aren't you watching the lessons? She looked back to him and saw herself in the boy. He was still looking at the test, still trying to make out the words, he was making the same face she did when she was looking at something with her glasses off. Cosima's eyes widened a little at the realization. She looked around the room, her eyes landed on a poster on the far wall of the principal's office that read "teamwork" in medium sized font. "Hey, Andy, tell me what that poster says." She pointed to the hanging that was about twelve feet away. André looked to the poster, the other two women looked too. He squinted, focusing as hard as he could. His lips moved a little as he tried to sound it out,

"T-t-ea awake?" He stuttered. The two women looked at him confusedly. Cosima pursed her lips and looked away, now extremely angry. She remembered what it felt like to not be able to see as a kid, before she got glasses. Constantly squinting, always feeling out of the loop during class, always feeling bored and frustrated during note taking. The fact that her son had to go through it too was infuriating, and the fact that she hadn't picked up on it sooner made her stomach ache with shame. She looked back to André,

"Are you having trouble seeing during classes?" She asked. The boy nodded. She looked to the women,

"He needs glasses." She declared. The teacher blinked a few times, not following, "He's bored and being disruptive because he can't see what you're doing at the board." Cosima clarified, trying not to yell at the woman. The teacher nodded understandingly. Cosima patted André on the shoulder and began to stand up,

"I think this solves the problem, thanks for bringing this to my attention, have a nice day." She shook each woman's hands quickly and quickly led her son out of the office.

André spoke up when they were driving home, looking at his mom from the backseat,

"Does this mean I'm gonna get glasses like you?" He asked. Cosima smiled a little at the thought,

"Yeah. We'll go to the glasses store and you'll get to pick out whatever pair you want to." She answered. The boy thought for a little before replying,

"I want mine to look like yours." He said contentedly. Cosima bit her lip and smiled even wider.

When they got home André ran upstairs to play in his room and Cosima found Delphine asleep with Louise on the couch. She laughed quietly and picked the girl up before nudging Delphine slightly. She woke up and looked around sleepily,

"How'd the meeting go?" She asked.

"It went fine, it turns out that he needs glasses." Cosima supplied. Delphine looked at her confusedly, "Yeah, he's bored because he can't see what's going on at the front of the class, so he talks to the other kids." She expanded. Delphine nodded a little before grinning,

"He'll look like you now." She said. Cosima grinned and nodded excitedly, careful to not wake up the child she was holding.

Eight days later the four of them left the optometrist's office, Delphine carrying Louise and Cosima holding André's hand. Resting on his small face was a pair of black rimmed glasses, slightly smaller and a little squarer than Cosima's, but they still looked extremely alike. The boy looked around excitedly, his face looking almost like a perfect mix between the two women.

"Pouvez-vous voir mieux maintenant?" Delphine asked. She'd taught André French when he was little, and she was beginning to teach Louise. The boy shook his head enthusiastically and kept looking around. Cosima's heart swelled, she was happy that her son could finally focus on things and no longer had to squint to see anything. She snapped a couple of pictures on her phone to send to Sarah and Alison. They both replied quickly. Alison said the boy looked 'dashing' and Sarah said that he looked just as his nerdy as his mom now. Cosima laughed and shook her head. André went to school the following day and didn't have any problems paying attention or sitting still for the rest of the school year. He loved his new glasses and he loved looking like his mom. **French translation: "Can you see better now?"**


	2. Chapter 2

**Did somebody say Mother's Day AU? I know I said this would be a oneshot but I wanted to write something for the holiday. Enjoy!**

The sound of heels coming quickly up the stairs pulled André's attention away from his toy cars. His bedroom door burst open and in tumbled his maman, her eyes frantic and her normally well kempt hair a mess. She was still in her work clothes and was holding a shopping bag. She caught her breath and looked at André, smiling at her son,

"Hey, André! How was your day? Did you have fun at school?" She asked, looking around her son's room. André was a bit confused,

"What are you looking around for?" He asked. Delphine looked at the boy, impressed by his perceptiveness. She also realized that her behavior was probably a bit unsettling. She smiled and sat down next to André on the floor,

"I'm looking for a place to hide the Mother's Day gift I got for Mom. She's very good at finding the gifts I hide from her, and I don't want her to find this one." She whispered to her son conspiratorially. The boy smiled, now excited. His tongue poked through his teeth a little, and his eyes crinkled underneath his glasses. _God, he looks just like Cosima_ , Delphine thought. "So, where do you think we should hide this?" She asked, holding up the shopping bag. André looked around the room for a while before his eyes lit up,

"Under my bed!" He exclaimed. Delphine smiled,

"That's perfect! Mon garçon intelligent!" She exclaimed, kissing the top of the boy's blonde head. She had no sooner slid the bag underneath the boy's bed when Cosima entered the bedroom, Louise in her arms. Delphine and André quickly grabbed a few toy cars and pretended to play with them. Cosima quirked an eyebrow,

"Hey, Delphine, I didn't hear you come home." Cosima walked over and sat on the bed. Delphine put the car down and reached for her daughter,

"I've only been home for a few minutes, I wanted to hang out with André." She said, running her fingers through Louise's short brown hair, trying to play it cool. Cosima saw right through her, but decided to play along,

"It's no big deal. How was work?"

"Work? Work was fine. Just a lot of paperwork." Delphine said, struggling to remain nonchalant. She didn't know why she was so bad at keeping gifts from people, "How was staying at home?" Cosima just shrugged,

"The usual. Hung out with Louise all day until it was time to pick Andy up from school." The brunette decided to change the subject, "You know Mother's Day is the day after tomorrow." She smiled slyly. Delphine tried her best to look surprised, raising her eyebrows and cocking her head a little,

"Is it? Hm, I must have forgotten." Cosima grinned even more,

"So you haven't gotten me anything?" She pressed. Delphine shook her head,

"I'm afraid not. I'll be on the lookout for a present, though." She said, barely containing a smile, "So have you gotten _me_ anything yet?" Cosima just shrugged, her eyes not hiding her excitement,

"You'll see." The brunette said before standing up, "I'm gonna go start dinner." At that, she left the room, leaving Delphine to giggle excitedly with André and Louise, who had joined in when she saw the other two doing it.

Mother's Day had never really been a big deal for Cosima or Delphine. After André was born they'd given each other cards, flowers or other similar gestures; one year they went out to dinner and hired Kira to babysit André. What made this year different was that the following year, Delphine had been pregnant with Louise, and that mixed with dealing with a five year old left the two women too tired to do anything particularly exciting. So this year, both women felt compelled to do something a bit grand for the other, it had even turned into something of a competition between the two of them. Delphine was having a bit of trouble with this because one, she was terrible at hiding gifts from people, two, she wasn't very good at buying gifts either. She'd been looking for a good gift for months, but could never really decide on the right one. Finally, she'd found a big, glass microscope for Cosima's desk online. She even ordered it to her office to keep Cosima from finding it in the mail. Delphine felt satisfied with her selection, and just hoped Cosima didn't manage to one-up her too much. That was her third problem: Cosima was a _fantastic_ gift giver. She always managed to give Delphine the perfect gift, no matter what. It intrigued Delphine, did she have an algorithm to determine what exactly to get a person? Was she psychic? Delphine was determined to win this competition, but she had a feeling that Cosima was hiding something. She decided to use her ace in the hole: their children. Cosima was such a softy when it came to their kids that she would be moved by anything they did for her. Did Delphine realize this was a little bit wrong? Yes. Did she mind? A little. Would this stop her from breaking out the finger paint and having her children each paint their mom a picture? No.

The next day, when Cosima left to go run errands, Delphine set up the art supplies and brought her kids to the table. André got to work immediately, making little patterns on the paper, careful not to mix his paints too much. Delphine had to spend most of the time making sure Louise didn't eat the paint or get too much of it on her clothes. The toddler made messy shapes on the page, which wound up looking somewhat like a very colorful Rorschach test. Delphine had just finished cleaning up and putting away the paints when Cosima got home. The brunette looked at Delphine, grinning secretively. She shook her head 'no' when Delphine pressed her for information.

Mother's Day finally rolled around, Delphine had wrapped the microscope and put that and the artwork in a gift bag. She was ready. She padded downstairs that morning with the bag in one arm and Louise in the other. She made coffee and the two waited in the living room until Cosima came downstairs. She looked at Delphine and smiled sleepily. She sat down next to her on the couch and pressed a kiss to the blonde's temple,

"Happy Mother's Day." She said, eyeing the bag that was resting on the other side of Delphine. Delphine saw what she was looking at and chuckled,

"Do you want to go ahead and open it? Or do you want to wait until André wakes up?" She asked. Cosima thought for a second,

"Well, I really want to know what it is you've been hiding under his bed since Friday," Delphine kicked herself, of course Cosima knew, "and I'm excited for you to see what I got you, and I don't want to wait for him to get up for you to see it." Cosima explained quietly. Delphine just nodded and handed the bag to her wife. The brunette took the paintings out first and immediately teared up. She examined the messy artwork her kids had made her with a smile. She sniffed a little and looked at Delphine,

"You knew I'd cry at this, you cheater." She smiled some more and wiped her eyes, "these are going on my desk at work." She declared before putting an arm around Delphine's shoulder and squeezing. She turned her attention back to her gift. The brunette unwrapped it slowly and took it out of the box. She grinned excitedly when she saw what it was, she turned it around in her hands a few times, admiring the weight of it,

"Delphine, I love it, thank you so much." Cosima said while pretending to look through the eyepiece. She put the gift on the coffee table and turned to Delphine,

"Now it's your turn." Cosima got up and walked to the mantle, pulling an envelope out from between a couple of books. Delphine rolled eyes, of course she'd hidden it in plain sight. Cosima sat back down and handed the envelope to the blonde, pulling Louise into her lap. Delphine looked at Cosima skeptically, she had no idea what could be in the envelope. Cosima nudged her gently,

"Go ahead, open it." Delphine opened the envelope and pulled the contents out. There were four slips of paper inside. Delphine was confused, she looked to Cosima, who looked back at the papers in her hand. Delphine looked closer at what she was holding. She realized they were plane tickets. Her stomach dropped, she was holding four round way tickets to France. Her eyes pricked with tears and she looked to Cosima, "I figured it was time for your family to meet Louise in person. It's been a while since they've seen André, too." She explained. Delphine was in tears now. It had been well over two years since she'd been to France. With her kids and her job, Delphine hadn't been able to find the time. Her kids would get to see her parents, her brothers and their families, they would get to see the town she grew up in. Delphine held back a sob. Cosima pulled her into the best hug she could manage with the toddler in her lap, she kissed the top of her head, "I've already taken care of the passports and everything, we leave in two weeks, after André gets out of school." Delphine just nodded, too happy to speak. She no longer cared about the silly competition, or feeling nervous about picking the right gift. The only thing she could think about now was her kids getting to see their grandparents.

 **French translation: "My clever boy!"**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys. I know I said this is complete, but I can't leave this story alone, and I also wanted to write something cute since the show has been the exact opposite. This chapter is long and very cute. Please please feel free to leave reviews/suggestions. Also, check out my other story, DHS, which will be updated soon. French translations are at the bottom. Enjoy!**

It was a quiet Saturday morning. Cosima was sitting on the couch, her legs curled underneath her, entering data into the laptop resting in her lap. Delphine was in the recliner across from her, looking through some papers that were most likely lab reports. Louise was playing on a mat to Delphine's right. Cosima was on her second or third page of data entry when she saw André come downstairs. She watched him mill around the kitchen for about a minute or so until he puttered back upstairs with what appeared to be a trash bag in his hand. Cosima had a bad feeling about her son's intentions with that trash bag, but she let it go and went back to work.

A few minutes later, Cosima was pulled out her work again, this time by a loud ' _OOMPH'_ in the front yard, followed by a strangled "Mom! Maman!" Cosima immediately put the pieces together and tossed her laptop to the side. Delphine's head snapped up, she dropped the papers she was holding and jumped out of the recliner. She leapt over the couch and followed Cosima out the front door.

Cosima sprinted around the hedges into the yard, Delphine opted to jump over them, and the two of them found André in a heap, surrounded by his bed sheets and the trash bag Cosima had seen him take.

"Holy shit…" Cosima breathed. She slowed down a little out of shock. Delphine was already on her knees beside the boy. He had a gash on his forehead, blood was steadily trickling down his face. Delphine pulled him into her lap and used the sleeve of her shirt to stop the bleeding. André shouted in pain when his maman moved him. Delphine inspected him the best she could with him in her lap and saw that his left arm was bent at a harsh angle,

"His arm is broken, Cosima." She announced with a shaky voice.

"What?!" André shouted, his throat thick with tears. Her son was looking around frantically, his bottom lip between his teeth. Delphine noticed that his glasses weren't on, but she couldn't see where they were.

"Andy, why the hell did you do that?" Cosima asked, she was kneeling beside the two of them. Her voice was calm, probably for the sake of her son, because her eyes were filled with panic. Delphine looked to her wife, still confused. Cosima nodded towards the top of the house. André's bedroom window was open. Delphine's throat filled with bile when she realized what her son had done. Cosima asked again, "Andy, why did you jump out your window?" She already knew the answer, every kid in the world had done it before, but few had broken their arms and only he was the son of Delphine Cormier, professional worrier, "And where are your glasses?" André hiccupped a few times before he answered,

"I wanted to see if I'd float down. I saw it in a cartoon. They're in my room. I didn't want to break them when I jumped." Cosima could have laughed at the irony, but she grimaced when she saw Delphine's face. She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and released it before she opened her mouth,

"Quoi! Tu voulez flotter? Tu avez cassé votre bras!" Delphine said frantically, she was too worked up to speak anything but French. She looked to Cosima, her jaw set, "Aller chercher mes clés et Louise, appeler Felix." She instructed. Cosima nodded and marched inside.

Once inside, Cosima let out the panicked breath she didn't know she had been holding. She suddenly felt bad for all the stuff she'd put her own parents through when she was a kid. She put on shoes and grabbed Delphine's keys out of the bowl on the counter. She walked over to where Louise was and found her still on the mat, playing quietly, completely oblivious to the scene in the front yard.

In the front yard, Delphine was running her free hand through André's hair, trying to calm him down. He was still crying, more from anxiety than from pain. His maman only spoke French when she was really mad,

"Désolé." He whimpered. Delphine flinched. She pulled the boy's head closer to her chest and kissed the top of his head. She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down enough to speak English,

"Non, non non non. I am not angry." She cooed. Her accent was thick, but she was no longer speaking her native tongue, "I am just scared."

"Why are you scared?" André asked.

"I am scared because you could have really hurt yourself. I am also scared that you are in pain. How bad does it hurt?" She explained. The boy tried to move a little but he grimaced,

"My head hurts a lot, but I can't really feel my arm that much." He said, he was shaking a little. Delphine nodded and kissed her son on the temple. He was in shock, they needed to get moving. Delphine was about to call out for Cosima to hurry when her wife hurried out of the front door, Louise in her arms, a diaper bag slung over her shoulder, and André's glasses tucked in the top of her shirt. She looked to Delphine and André, his face was pale. Delphine said what she already knew,

"He's going into shock, let's go." She said, wrapping one of her arms beneath André's knees and placing the other behind his shoulders. She stood up and readjusted her son so his head was by hers,

"What's shock?" André asked frantically. Cosima opened the backseat of Delphine's car and put Louise in her car seat before she let Delphine put André in,

"A person goes into shock when they get really hurt, your body releases adrenaline to keep you from feeling a lot of pain." Cosima explained. Delphine slid André into the back seat, but looked anxious to let him go, "Do you want me to drive so you can stay back there with him?" She asked quietly. Delphine actually considered it before she shook her head,

"Non, you sit with him, you're better at keeping him calm." She admitted. Cosima nodded and got into the backseat with her children. André was holding hands with Louise, who was still blissfully unaware of the whole situation. Cosima pulled out her phone and called Felix, the phone rang three times before he answered,

"Hey, Cos. What's up?"

"Well, we're gonna have to drop Louise off at your house for a few hours." Cosima said.

"Why? What's going on?" Felix asked

"André wanted to float, so he jumped out of his bedroom window with a bed sheet. His arm is broken and he probably needs stitches, so we have to take him to the ER." She explained. She could hear Felix laugh on the other end,

"Holy shite. He's definitely your kid." He laughed again, Cosima smiled. "He's okay though?" Felix asked more seriously.

"Yeah, he's gonna be okay. We just don't know how long we're gonna be in there so we want to take Louise." Cosima answered.

"Bring her over, we'll have a great time. We'll paint and talk about how crazy her mom is. Speaking of, how's Delphine?" Felix asked, knowing from experience how tense Delphine got.

"She is…surprisingly calm. She was speaking in French for a while but she stopped. She is currently hauling ass across the city, though." Cosima said right as Delphine took a hard left, "She's pulling some Fast and Furious shit right now." She said, trying to keep her voice low. Honestly, Cosima could have been yelling and Delphine would have been too focused on the road to notice. "We'll be there in about five minutes, I'll talk to you then." The two exchanged goodbyes before Cosima hung up.

She looked to her son, who was now leaning against her side. He was cradling his arm, which was still bent. Everything about the angle screamed surgery, but Cosima didn't want to panic André, and she suspected Delphine already knew,

"You know, I did the same thing when I was your age." Cosima said to André. Her son looked to her in disbelief, "Yeah, I strapped a piece of cardboard to both of my arms and jumped off my porch. I landed in the bushes and got a really nasty cut on my arm. I think the scar's still there, see?" She lifted her sleeve enough to show the boy the long, thin scar that ran parallel to her elbow. André smiled a little,

"Did you get in trouble?" Cosima laughed,

"Well, I didn't think the cut was that bad, so I decided to try again. And again. And again. Opa caught me on my fifth try. I was covered in leaves and the bushes were ruined. I got in a lot of trouble, mainly because I had broken my glasses. You were smart to take yours off before you tried." Cosima said. André smiled brightly at the compliment.

"Cosima!" Delphine admonished from the front seat, "His _arm_ is broken." Cosima knew that this was calming their son down, so she decided that she'd accept the brow beating,

"So, the trash bag was an interesting choice. Was it so you'd catch more air?" She asked, now rather interested in her son's method. André nodded,

"I used the sheet as a backup." He explained. Cosima nodded, thinking more,

"Did you do any test trials? On an action figure or something?" André shook his head, "Wow. Go big or go home, I guess. But you should always do test trials, to get your technique right." Cosima explained. André nodded, paying close attention. Delphine looked like she was about to have a stroke. "Never do this again, though. This was a huge mistake, but you probably already know that." Cosima finished, motioning to his arm. The bleeding on his forehead had stopped, but the cut still looked pretty deep. André nodded solemnly.

The car pulled to a stop in front of Felix's building. The man was already waiting outside, he approached the car and opened the door,

"Hey, André, you doing your own stunts now?" He smiled and waved to Delphine, who waved tensely back. André blushed a little. Cosima unbuckled Louise and handed Felix the diaper bag.

"Alright, Louise, you're gonna stay with Uncle Felix for a little bit while we get André checked out." Cosima explained to the toddler, who babbled excitedly when Felix took her. "Thank you so much for doing this, Felix." Cosima said sincerely. Felix shrugged,

"It's not a problem. Get better, André." Felix waved goodbye and the car peeled out of the parking lot.

Once at the emergency room, Delphine parked the car and pulled André out of the back, carrying him the same way as before. The three of them entered the ER and approached the desk. Cosima explained to the nurse what had happened, and they were lucky enough that the wait was short. They got taken into the examination room, where the doctor gave André some anesthetic and stitched up his forehead before he examined the boy's arm. Delphine refused to let André go, so the doctor had to work around her.

"Well, it's definitely broken, but only the X-Rays will tell us whether or not he'll need surgery." The doctor concluded. They waited quietly in the exam room while the doctor prepared the X-Ray,

"He's gonna need surgery." Cosima said to Delphine quietly. The blonde nodded and hugged her son a little tighter,

"I know."

The doctor came back in and guided them into the X-Ray room. Delphine still refused to let André go, she convinced the doctor to let her go in with her son by telling him she was a doctor, too. So she took off her watch and handed it to Cosima. Delphine sat through the X-Ray and carried André out when it was over. When they got the results back, the doctor confirmed what the two women already knew, and began giving them the rundown of how the surgery would go,

"The break is too messy to reset it from the outside. He won't need pins, but he'll be in a cast for about three months. The hospital is about a block away, we can get him in immediately." He explained. Cosima nodded,

"Can we drive him there, or what?" She asked, not sure if at this point Delphine would be physically able to let go of her son.

"Normally, we put patients in an ambulance, it's faster, and he'll have a cool story to tell." The doctor smiled at the last part. Cosima looked to her wife,

You ride with him, I'll take the car." Delphine nodded and let André get loaded into the ambulance. She smiled when the boy got excited about it. The anesthetic was still affecting him, so his smile was a little woozy. When she was nine, her brother had caught her jumping off the stair railing, using a towel as a parachute. Well, he'd caught her flat on her back, gasping for breath after she'd landed wrong. He helped her get her breath back and promised not to tell their parents, the experience had shaken Delphine enough to make her vow to never try something like that ever again. She sat in the ambulance, holding her son's hand until they pulled to a stop.

It was all a blur after that, Cosima met up with her, they followed André into the hospital and stayed by him for as long as they could before it was time for his surgery. The surgeon's promise that it would take less than an hour did nothing to calm Delphine, and she started crying the second they sat down in the waiting room. Cosima rubbed small circles in her back and whispered comforting words until the sobs stopped. Delphine looked to Cosima, her eyes still watery,

"What if he'd broken a rib? Or his neck?" She asked frantically, her throat closing up at the idea. Cosima put an arm around her,

"Hey, it's okay. It didn't happen, and I'm pretty sure this freaked him out enough that he's never gonna try that again." She comforted, "I broke my arm like, three times when I was younger." Delphine looked at Cosima, surprised. "Yeah, the first time, I was probably his age. I was standing on top of the monkey bars and I fell off. I broke it again about three years later when I got tackled in soccer, and the third time was when I was seventeen." Delphine smiled,

"I remember that. Sarah dared you to jump over Felix's bike on your skateboard." She spoke softly, recalling the day she had to carry a woozy Cosima to Sarah's car.

"Yeah, my foot got caught on his handlebars and I planted right into the concrete. It was pretty gross, all I remember is Felix puking, you carrying me to the car," Delphine smiled at the parallel, "and Sarah cussing like crazy as she hauled ass to the ER." Cosima pulled Delphine even closer into her side, "This," she motioned around the waiting room and to the dried blood on Delphine's shirt sleeve, "this is nothing. Stuff like this happens all the time. Yeah, it's scary. I'm scared as hell right now, but André's gonna learn from this, and he's gonna have a cool cast to show off to all of his classmates." She looked to Delphine, who was watching her like she was the only thing in the universe. Her eyes were a lot calmer and she was no longer crying. "Didn't you ever break a bone when you were a kid?" Cosima asked. Delphine nodded,

"I broke my wrist in primary school. A boy dared me to race to the top of a tree, I beat him, but I fell out immediately after." She said. Cosima laughed in disbelief.

"What happened to the boy?" She asked. Delphine laughed,

"Nothing. It wasn't his fault. My brother offered to give him a hard time, but I declined. He even apologized when I got back to school." Delphine smiled. Cosima was glad that she had calmed down so much because she was sure that if Delphine had stayed that tense any longer she would have had a heart attack. Protective Delphine wasn't new, but it had been a while since Cosima had seen it. Once when André was in preschool, a teacher had confiscated the stuffed raccoon he brought from home which sent him home in tears, and she thought Delphine was going to pull a switchblade on the woman. A few times, before they'd had kids, they'd gotten drunk with Sarah and Felix, and Delphine got fed up with the play-insults they kept tossing at Cosima, and she squared off with Sarah until Felix and Cosima diffused the situation.

The two of them sat in the waiting room quietly until a nurse came to retrieve them. The nurse led them into a room in the pediatric ward where André was still asleep. His arm was stitched up and covered in bandages. The nurse explained that he would have to stay overnight, but would be able to leave in the morning. He would get a cast in two weeks, and the stitches would be taken out when he got the cast removed.

Cosima and Delphine sat by the bed, calling Felix to tell him the situation. The man enthusiastically volunteered to take Louise for the night and to bring her to the hospital in the morning. André woke up an hour later, groggy and confused by his lack of mobility. He tried to sit up, but Cosima caught him gently by the chest and laid him back down,

"Go back to sleep, buddy. If you go back to sleep, we'll go out for breakfast in the morning." Cosima bargained. André nodded as excitedly as he could while anaesthetized and fell back asleep almost immediately.

Cosima milled around the hospital, getting food from the cafeteria and bringing it to Delphine, who was resting her head on the bed. After a while, Cosima looked up to find Delphine asleep, holding hands with a sleeping André. Cosima felt herself drifting off as well to the beeping of the heart monitor.

They were awoken to a knock on the door. It was Felix holding Louise and a vase of flowers. Behind him were Sarah, Alison and Kira. Sarah had a small gift in her hands and Alison held an unbelievably large bunch of balloons. Sarah walked further in the room, nodding to both women,

"How is he?" She asked, sitting down in a chair. Cosima stretched a little before answering,

"He's good. He slept all night and can go home any time." Sarah nodded before laughing,

"Jesus bloody Christ. I can't believe it took this long for something like this to happen. I'm even more surprised that you didn't give him the idea to do it." The three women laughed. Sarah looked to Delphine, still smiling, "How long'll it be until he's left alone again?" She asked knowingly. Delphine shook her head,

"Not before this is healed, that's for sure." Cosima rolled her eyes but didn't protest.

André woke up a few minutes later and looked around excitedly at all of his guests. He let his mom open the gift Aunt Sarah had gotten him and got even more excited when it turned out to be a superhero's cape. This earned Sarah a glare from both of his mothers. They stayed and talked for a while longer until André was cleared to leave.

Once in the car, Cosima looked at her son from the front seat,

"So, Andy, are you done jumping from second story windows?" She asked. André sank a little in his seat,

"I just wanted to do science like you guys." He said sheepishly, looking at his feet. Cosima looked to Delphine, her eyes giving a look of _Oh god, he can do no wrong_. Delphine shook her head at how malleable Cosima was,

"André, from now on, when you want to 'do science,' tell us. We'll help you do it safely, so you won't have to go through this ever again, okay?" Delphine said. André nodded sleepily, the painkillers already tiring him out.

Louise and André were both asleep in the backseat, and Cosima reached out to hold Delphine's hand. The two drove home in silence, tired and ready to put the last twenty-four hours behind them.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello again. What is the exact opposite of angst? Because that's what this is. I got this idea and had to write it. I'm loving the reviews and I really appreciate them! I've gotten a request or two, and I'm currently structuring those and working to fit them into the confines of this story. Please feel free to review/give me some more requests. I hope you like it!**

André Niehaus-Cormier was an observant little boy. He loved to watch others and see what they did. His favorite things to observe were his parents when they discussed work, the faces his maman made when she tried to spoon feed his little sister, and the other kids at school.

The other kids were very interesting. He loved playing with them, but there was something about the way his classmates interacted with each other and with their parents that intrigued him. What intrigued him the most about these interactions were the dads. His classmates' dads drove them to and from school, which is what his parents did, he went to his friend Jeremy's house once and his dad cooked dinner, which his mom did every night. He once asked Jeremy what his dad's job was, and Jeremy said that his dad was in charge of people. André's maman was in charge of people, too. He asked Jeremy if that made his maman his dad, and Jeremy had said no, his maman was a woman, that made his maman his maman. So he asked Jeremy what made a dad a dad, and Jeremy didn't know, but his best guess was that a dad was the man that you spent the most time with. This confused André, so he decided to ask the smartest people he knew.

Cosima was sitting at the dinner table, André was to her right, and Delphine was across from her, currently trying to feed Louise, who was sitting in a highchair to her left, a spoonful of mashed peaches. She suppressed a grin at the semi-crazed grin her wife was wearing, desperately trying to get their ten-month-old to eat. Delphine doing something so domestic while still in her work clothes was somewhat attractive to Cosima, but she didn't have time to dwell on it, because she noticed André chewing on his lip nervously, apparently deep in thought.

"Is something wrong, Andy?" She asked the boy, his head snapped up, his big eyes filled with nerves.

"No, nothing." He answered, now picking at the cast on his left arm. Cosima looked to Delphine, who was eyeing the six year old,

"Are you sure, André? You seem nervous about something." Delphine asked. André creased his brows,

"I was just wondering…" He stopped for a second. Delphine hunched over, making herself eye level with her son, encouraging him to go on. He focused on his maman's face and finished the question, "Is Uncle Felix my dad?"

Cosima choked on the water she was drinking, she had to put her glass down and pat her chest to help herself regain composure. Delphine's jaw dropped to the table and she couldn't form words. Luckily, Cosima was able to recover quicker than she could. Cosima cleared her throat,

"No, Uncle Felix isn't your dad. He's your uncle." She explained. André thought for another moment,

"Is Uncle Cal my dad?" He asked. Delphine was full on sputtering at this point and Cosima had to bite back a laugh, she didn't want to seem patronizing to her son. She did want to screw with Delphine a little, so she put on a wry smile and said,

"Well, unless Maman has been hiding something from me, Uncle Cal is not your dad." She had to stifle another laugh when Delphine gagged from across the table; she'd known the man since high school, she didn't want to think about that. Delphine then looked to Cosima, sporting quite possibly the angriest look she'd ever seen. Delphine looked back to the boy,

"André, where are these questions coming from?" She asked. André took a deep breath,

"All the other kids in my class have dads, and I asked Jeremy how to know if someone was your dad, and he said that your dad is the man you spend the most time with, and I spend a lot of time with Uncle Felix. Does that make him my dad?" He said in a rush. Delphine sat there, flabbergasted. She assumed that this question would come along sooner or later, but now that it had been asked, she wasn't very sure how to answer it. She decided it was best to take it one step at a time,

"Non, Uncle Felix is not your dad, and neither is Uncle Cal. They are your uncles." Delphine explained slowly. She knew she was talking in circles, and she could tell her son did, too. He creased is eyebrows,

"So, who is my dad?" He asked, now more confused than ever. Cosima decided to field this question,

"You…don't have a dad." She answered. Of course he had a dad, but she thought it was a little early for an explanation of the whole 'anonymous donor, confidentiality agreement' process. This explanation did little to satisfy their son's curiosity. He scrunched his face together, it looked as if he were trying to pull the answer out of thin air,

"Why don't I have a dad?" He asked.

"You have two moms, instead." Cosima shrugged. She wanted to say something more, but she really had no clue how to go about the question. Delphine smiled a little, she was also quite lost over the question. Hopefully André would accept the answer, but she knew he wouldn't. He was raised by Cosima, of course he wouldn't,

"Why am I the only one in my class with two moms?" He questioned, looking to both women. Delphine stiffened,

"Does that bother you?" She asked gently, "Are other children making fun of you?" This question was a little more abrasive. She was mad now, at who, she did not know. She just couldn't stand the idea of someone making fun of André simply because his family was not 'traditional'. She sighed in relief when André shook his head,

"No, no one makes fun of me. I was just wondering." He explained. He wasn't going to let the question go, so Cosima took a deep breath,

"Well, when two people love each other, they have children. And most of the time, a mom and dad fall in love with each other, but I didn't fall in love with a dad, I fell in love with your maman, and she fell in love with me, so we decided to have you guys." She gestured to André and Louise, "There are other kids have two moms, and there are kids who have two dads. It doesn't really matter if your parents are a mom and a dad, a mom and a mom, or a dad and a dad, as long as they love you. And we love you, isn't that right?" She looked to Delphine, who nodded vigorously,

"Yes, we love you very much." Cosima smiled,

"Does that answer your question?" She asked André thought for a moment before he smiled,

"Yes!" He nodded enthusiastically. Cosima grinned widely,

"Awesome. Why don't you go upstairs and play?" She prompted. André left the table and scurried upstairs. Once he was out of earshot, the two women looked at each other. Cosima reached over the table for a high-five, "Nicely done, Cormier." Delphine laughed,

"I should be saying that to you. You're the one who did the talking." She said. Cosima shrugged,

"It was a team effort. I couldn't have done it without you backing me up." She grinned. Delphine just smiled,

"I will never understand how good you are at talking to them. You can read them so well, it's like you were born to do it." Delphine admitted. Cosima thought for a second before she smiled shyly,

"That means a lot. I don't know, I always think I'm just getting lucky each time I have to explain things to them." Cosima confessed. Delphine smirked and shook her head. She rose from the table and began gathering dishes, Cosima soon joined her,

"So, how do you think Felix is gonna react when we tell him about this?" Cosima asked. Both women burst into laughter. They did the dishes together, grinning at each other every few minutes.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey, sorry it's been so long since my last date. I've been working on a couple of other stories. This chapter is about as angsty/dark as I'm ever going to get, so don't worry. Once again, please feel free to leave a review/send me a prompt. I'll see what I can do with it. Enjoy!**

Cosima had woken up feeling a bit sick. Nothing that bad, just a small cough more than likely caused by allergies. Despite Cosima's reassurance that it was just her respiratory system responding to all of the pollen in the air, Delphine insisted that she take the day off from the lab to rest. She spent the whole day on the couch, Louise next to her, unbelievably bored. By the time Delphine got home with André, Cosima thought she was going to explode from boredom. The blonde looked her up and down, she brought her fingers to Cosima's neck and began checking her lymph nodes. Cosima swatted her hands away,

"I'm fine, don't worry. I hardly coughed at all after you left." She promised her wife. Delphine nodded, hoping that Cosima was telling the truth. Her wife hated being babied and she hated being cooped up in the house all day even more, so Delphine could understand her frustration,

"Okay. Just take it easy, I don't want you getting sicker." Delphine warned. She pressed a kiss to Cosima's forehead and went to change out of her work clothes before starting dinner. She knew that Cosima normally did it, but if Cosima was catching something, she didn't want her preparing food.

Delphine was in the kitchen, stirring pasta, when she heard Cosima begin to goof around with André. She turned around to look into the living room and saw Cosima on her hands and knees, with André on her back. She was laughing and trying to shake the boy off. André was shrieking with delight, hanging on to her shoulders. Delphine watched Cosima rise slowly, André still latched on. Cosima walked a few laps around the living room until she gently let André hop off of her back and sat down on the couch. Delphine bit back the urge to chide the woman when she heard her let out a few small coughs, obviously a bit strained from the roughhousing. She turned her attention back to dinner, but kept an ear on Cosima's breathing. She continued to cough as Delphine set the table. Delphine looked over to her with furrowed brows. Cosima was doubled over on the couch, gasping for breath. André was staring at her worriedly. Cosima looked to Delphine, her eyes serious. Her breaths had become loud, gasping wheezes. Delphine felt her stomach drop,

"Cosima, are you okay?" She asked. She knew she wasn't, but she wanted to remain as calm as possible so she wouldn't frighten André. Cosima shook her head and brought her fingers to her throat. _Of course. She's been coughing all day._ Delphine thought as she quickly walked to the couch and sat down next to Cosima.

She pulled Cosima into her lap, leaning the brunette's back into her chest. She began taking slow, deep breaths. Hoping that the rise and fall of her own chest would help steady her wife's. Cosima's wheezing grew more frantic, Delphine put her hand on her head, "Cosima, take deep breaths. Follow my lead." She said gently. André was still standing in front of the couch, he looked to be on the verge of tears. Delphine reached out and motioned for André. He took her hand and she squeezed it a little. Cosima was still gasping. She thought hard, finally remembering something. She brought André a little bit closer and said as calmly as she could,

"André, go up to my room. In my nightstand is a little piece of metal shaped like a boot. It has a red piece of plastic on it. I need you to run and get it as quickly as you can." She ordered, still trying to calm Cosima's breathing. The boy nodded and darted off. Once he was gone, Delphine brought her hand to Cosima's cheek. This hadn't happened since college. Delphine felt stupid for ignoring the signs. Cosima looked at her with mortified eyes, Delphine just shushed her, "It's okay, you're going to be okay, just try to relax." She coaxed. Cosima's gasping seemed to quiet a little, her breaths, while still labored, were not as ragged. Delphine was still whispering in her ear when André returned.

He handed the cylinder to his maman. Delphine opened the end with her thumb, shook the canister, and gently inserted the emergency inhaler into Cosima's mouth. She pumped it as Cosima took the deepest breath she could manage. She waited a few seconds, letting Cosima catch her breath a little before she put the inhaler back into the brunette's mouth and pumped again.

The second pump seemed to do the trick, and Cosima's breathing finally, blissfully, regulated. Her breaths were raspy, but they were successful. Cosima leaned further back into Delphine's chest, still calming down. They stayed like that for about a minute longer until Cosima slid off of Delphine's lap and looked to André, whose eyes were brimming with frightened tears. She motioned for him to come closer, not trusting her voice just yet. André took a tentative step towards his mom. He seemed to be a bit nervous to approach her. Cosima put a hand on his shoulder and took a deep breath. She looked up at her frightened son,

"Are you okay?" She asked. She couldn't stand to see him so upset. André looked at her, still trying to make sense of what just happened,

"W-What was that?" He asked, his voice shaky. Cosima reached over and plucked her inhaler out of Delphine's hand. The blonde was still leaning back on the couch, also shaken by the experience. Cosima took another hit from her inhaler and took a few more deep breaths before answering,

"I have a condition called 'asthma'. I'm sure some of your classmates have it." She began, André nodded, "It makes it hard for me to breathe, sometimes. On days like today, when my allergies are bad, or when I run around a lot, I can have something called an 'asthma attack', where it gets _really_ hard for me to breathe. That's what happened to me, I had an asthma attack." She explained. André seemed to understand,

"Why did Maman put you in her lap?" He asked. Cosima thought for a moment, trying to find a way to simplify the situation for her son,

"Well, an asthma attack is basically just getting too excited to breathe. I was so worked up that I couldn't take breaths, Maman, who was calm, put me in her lap so she could calm me down with her breaths." She offered. André nodded,

"Like an example?" He asked. Cosima smiled brightly,

" _Exactly_. She was using her breaths as an example for mine. Very smart." She said, happy that her son had calmed down enough to be curious. André pointed to the inhaler in Cosima's hand,

"What's that?" He inquired. Cosima held the canister up so he could see it better,

"This is an inhaler. It has medicine inside that I breathe in to help with my asthma attacks." She explained, taking another puff. André smiled a little, finally satisfied with his mom's explanation.

After taking another minute to catch their breaths, Cosima and Delphine rounded up their children and sat down to eat dinner. Cosima just watched, her appetite was gone. She noticed that Delphine didn't eat much either. André seemed to have recovered from his initial shock, but Cosima didn't miss the nervous glances the boy would occasionally send her way.

A couple hours later, after dinner had ended and the bedtime routine had begun, the two of them were in André's room, getting the boy settled. Cosima sighed and kissed the top of her son's head when the boy hugged her especially tight. She set her jaw when she heard the boy whisper an, "Is mom going to be okay?" to Delphine when he thought she couldn't hear. Delphine had just whispered a sympathetic, "Of course," before giving the boy one last hug

After André had fallen asleep, Cosima and Delphine were in their room, getting ready for bed. Delphine exited the bathroom to find Cosima sitting on the bed, her chin resting in her hand. She looked angry about something. Delphine had an idea what it was. She sat next to Cosima, resting her hand on the woman's knee,

"What's wrong?" She asked quietly. Cosima huffed and threw her hands in the air,

"I didn't even know where it was," she admitted, defeated. Delphine furrowed her brow,

"Where what was?"

"My inhaler. I didn't know where it was. I've had asthma for almost my whole life. I know what triggers an asthma attack. I ignored all the signs and when, _surprise_ , I have one, I'm too irresponsible to even know where my freaking _emergency inhaler_ is," Cosima elaborated, her voice dripping with shame. Delphine wrapped an arm around her shoulder and thought for a moment,

"It is perfectly understandable. You haven't had an asthma attack since college, and I don't even remember the last time you had one before that," Delphine comforted. Cosima shook her head,

"No, it's unacceptable. I'm an adult. I have two children who can't be seeing that. Did you see André? Did you see how scared he was?" Cosima asked, looking to Delphine with a pained face, "I can't imagine how terrifying that must have been for him: having to watch me, gasping for breath, be dragged into your lap. Jesus Christ, Delphine. What would we have done if you didn't know where it was? Would we have waited it out? Called an ambulance?" Cosima spat hypotheticals into the tense air around them, "He looked at me like I was made of glass for the rest of the night. How long do you think that'll go on?" She speculated, still very frustrated. Delphine just sat in silent understanding. She ran her palm up and down Cosima's bicep comfortingly,

"I agree. This was bad, but," she pulled away from Cosima and crawled to her side of the bed, pulling down the covers and crawling underneath, "the only thing we can do now is make sure it doesn't happen again. How can we do that?" She asked, beckoning Cosima to get under the covers beside her. Cosima joined Delphine underneath the comforter.

Much to Cosima's relief, André wasn't wary of his mom the following day, in fact, he seemed to have forgotten the incident entirely. Cosima hadn't, though, and worked her hardest to prevent a repeat of the incident. The idea she came up with was reasonable, she kept one inhaler in her medicine cabinet and on her person at all times, and Delphine continued to keep one in her nightstand. Cosima forced herself to be more aware of the signs leading up to an asthma attack, and worked on refraining herself from doing anything too strenuous when she saw those signs. Cosima was never going to let something like that happen again.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long. Just a word of warning: this chapter talks about vomit a bit. It doesn't go too in depth but it is central to the plot. If that's not your thing, you can skip this chapter, I'll have another one up pretty soon. Once again, please feel free to leave a review/request. Enjoy!**

Cosima considered herself to be an involved parent. She loved helping her children when they needed it, and would do anything for them. Well, almost anything. She drew the line at one thing and one thing only: vomit.

Cosima had never liked vomit. She figured that nobody actually _liked_ vomit, but she also figured that others could deal with it when they had to. She didn't know why vomit was the one thing she couldn't stomach. She'd dissected countless organisms and had researched some of the most vile inflictions and conditions in existence during her education and as a part of her career, but something about vomit struck a nerve. She couldn't deal with it and had never been able to.

Once in high school, Cal had gotten food poisoning and Cosima had had the extreme luck of being in the same room as him it when it hit. Delphine practically had to carry her out of the room before Cosima managed to throw up more than the boy did; she had hassled Cal about it for several weeks afterwards.

One time after an especially raucous party in college, Cosima had woken up with a trail of vomit down the front of her shirt and subsequently cried and dry heaved her way through a twenty minute shower.

She had comforted Delphine through her morning sickness from the door of their bathroom, whispering soothing words from afar as her wife retched over the toilet. Cosima had tried her best to quell her own urges to gag, lest she get an acerbic glare from Delphine. Sometimes she was able to suppress her own squeamishness, other times she herself had to kneel over the toilet after Delphine had finished.

After André was born, Cosima had found that she was somewhat able to manage spit up. She figured it was a combination of her pure, uninhibited love for her infant son and her understanding that Delphine should not have to deal with both André and her adult wife's vomit that allowed her to power through whatever her son managed to spew her way.

When André was around three Cosima realized that her tolerance was strictly limited to infant vomit. It was late one night, she and Delphine had been asleep in their bed when they were awoken by André crawling up next to them, stuffed raccoon in hand. Cosima had woken up first and found herself face to face with the small boy, his face drawn in with distress. She sat up in bed and put her glasses on,

"Hey, buddy. What's wrong?" She asked. André put a small hand over his abdomen,

"My stomach hurts," he whimpered. Cosima pulled the boy into her lap and rubbed his back sympathetically for a few moments before Delphine woke up. Cosima filled her in on why their son was in their bed and Delphine sat up, immediately slipping into doctor mode. After a series of ' _where exactly does it hurt?' 'How bad does it hurt?' 'How long has it been hurting?'_ She took André from Cosima and took his temperature with the back of her hand. Delphine looked to Cosima,

"It's nothing serious. It's probably just a stomach bug," she explained. Cosima, who had been drifting back off again while still sitting up, snapped her eyes back open, fully awake now,

"A stomach bug?" She asked, growing alarmed, "As in 'throw up several times over the course of the next day or so?'" She questioned, panicking a little. Delphine rolled her eyes,

"Yes, Cosima. That is typically what happens when one has a stomach bug," Delphine answered, "I thought you were over this?" Cosima shrugged,

"I-I don't know! Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. All I know is we need to get him," she motioned to André, who was sleepily resting his cheek against Delphine's shoulder, "to a toilet, or a trashcan, or any other receptacle that is not near this bed," she explained.

Delphine stared at Cosima in disbelief. She honestly thought her wife had overcome her crippling aversion to vomit a while ago, but even if she hadn't, Cosima had a point. If André really did have a stomach bug, it would be wise to get him close to something to throw up in. And so Delphine stood slowly so as not to disturb her son. She plucked the stuffed animal from her son's hand and was about to carry him to the bathroom when Cosima interjected,

"Put him down. Walk him to the bathroom," she said cautiously from the bed. Delphine looked at her confusedly,

"Quoi? Cosima, he is asleep," Delphine reasoned. Cosima shook her head,

"I'm just saying that he should be angled away from you, because if you get vomit on you, you're not getting back in this bed until tomorrow night," she explained in her most rational, patient voice. Delphine just sighed and gently placed the boy on the floor, leaning over and bracing her hands on his small shoulders. He was a little wobbly at first, but he steadied and took a few sleepy steps towards the bathroom.

Cosima sat on the bed and watched the two of them. Their hair looked almost exactly the same: curly and wild from sleep. Delphine slowly guided the toddler across the room. Actually, _slowly_ was an understatement. They were moving at a snail's pace. The boy was very tired, and Delphine was very patient, so the two of them crept along until André stopped.

Cosima watched in abject horror as André's steps faltered to a stop. He paused for a moment, his face twisted in discomfort, before he lurched forward and threw up all over the floor in front of the bed. There was about a fraction of a second of silence afterwards, where Delphine picked André up to get him away from the mess on the floor, and where what had just happened hadn't quite sunken in for Cosima and André.

After that fraction of a second was up, André began to wail in discomfort, Cosima's own disgusted, horrified dry heaves followed soon after. Delphine was surrounded by a chorus of sobs and gags, the noise distracting her temporarily. After a moment, she collected herself and put André on the bed. She looked to Cosima,

"I'm going to take care of this mess, I need you to clean him up and make sure he doesn't get sick again. Do not throw up. Please, I am begging you, do not throw up," she implored, her face one of pure desperation, before marching out of the room, leaving Cosima alone with their sick son.

Cosima tried to collect herself. She breathed slowly through her mouth and focused on the task at hand: settling André back down. The toddler was still crying, but not as loudly as before. He was sitting at the end of the bed, looking around anxiously. When his gaze finally fell to Cosima, he extended his little arms towards her in a search for comfort. Cosima reached for him and pulled him into her lap, the movement gave her a clearer view of the mess in front of her bed and the woman had to stifle another gag.

André latched onto Cosima's neck and held on tightly. Cosima rubbed the top of his head before she rose out of the bed. The boy leaned back over the bed and began reaching for something, Cosima looked around and saw that her son was reaching for his stuffed raccoon, and so she grabbed it from the bed and gave it to André before she took a deep breath and prepared herself for the long journey from the bed to the bathroom.

As she walked, Cosima kept her eyes steadily trained on the bathroom door and rubbed small circles in her son's back. He had stopped crying, which was good, but Cosima was paranoid that his silence signified that another round of vomit was on its way, so she made her strides longer and sat the boy down on the floor as soon as she reached the bathroom. She wet a rag in the sink and turned back to her son,

"Are you feeling any better, buddy?" She asked as she wiped his face down. André nodded a little, his eyes were heavy with sleep. With the situation finally calming down, the last five minutes began to replay in Cosima's head. She held back a dry heave as she heard Delphine enter the room again,

"Cosima?" Delphine called from the bedroom, "Is everything okay in there?" She asked. Cosima took a shaky breath before answering,

"Yeah-yeah everything's good. He says he feels better and he's falling asleep, so I think he's over it," she said, still trying not to gag as she continued to replay the night's events in her mind. Sensing this, Delphine called back into the bathroom,

"And what about you? Are you okay?" She asked. Cosima nodded even though she knew Delphine couldn't see her,

"Oh, I'm fine. Don't worry about me. I feel good. Strong. Healthy." Cosima lied, the quiver in her voice giving her away to Delphine immediately. Delphine sighed,

"Alright, if you say so. Just give me a couple more minutes and you should be safe to come out," Delphine said. Cosima just let out a steady breath of air and leaned against the bathtub beside André.

Once Delphine gave the all clear, Cosima collected André off of the tile and opened the bathroom door, where she found Delphine standing on the other side, waiting to take André from her wife. Cosima deposited the boy in Delphine's arms. Delphine held the sleeping boy to her chest, he nuzzled into her neck, completely oblivious to what was going on around him.

Delphine stared intently at Cosima, who was still looking a bit queasy,

"Are you okay?" She asked quietly. Cosima nodded a bit, her voice was throaty,

"Yeah, I'm good. Totally great." She replied. Delphine sighed,

"If you're going to throw up, please do it now. I'm too tired for this to be prolonged," she requested. Cosima took a deep breath and shook her head,

"Nope. I'm not gonna vomit. I am an adult. I will not vomit," she said, more to herself than to Delphine.

In all honesty, Cosima didn't feel that bad. Delphine had successfully removed any and all evidence of what had transpired from the bedroom. She had distracted herself enough that she hadn't worked herself up too much. It didn't look like André was going to get sick again. Cosima was in the clear. She took another deep breath before she passed Delphine and made her way towards the bed,

"He should stay in here for the rest of the night, just in case," she suggested, crawling under the covers, "he stays on your side, though."

Delphine let out a small chuckle and followed Cosima, André still asleep in her arms. Once Delphine had gotten the boy settled, Cosima turned off her lamp, sending the room into darkness. After a few minutes of silence, Delphine let out a sigh of relief, tremendously grateful that Cosima hadn't gotten sick.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys! I got this idea last night and got really excited so that's why I'm back so soon. Once again, feel free to write a review/request. Until next time. Enjoy!**

Delphine had been finishing some work on her laptop at the kitchen table when her cellphone rang. She reached across the table and was surprised to find that Sarah was calling her,

"Hello, Sarah?" She answered.

"Delphine, I need your help," Sarah said from the other end. Delphine could hear commotion in the background,

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" Delphine asked, worried now.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just, Cal's dog had puppies a few weeks ago, and they're getting older, and they're getting louder and there are so many of them and Kira won't let me sell them and I don't know what to do with them," she paused. Delphine's jaw set when she realized where Sarah was going with this. She looked around to make sure no one was within earshot before answering,

"Sarah, no. We can't take a puppy right now. We are already busy enough as it is," Delphine practically hissed. She heard Sarah groan,

"Delphine, _please_. There are so many of them. They've taken over my house. And they're so loud, see?" Sarah must have held her phone closer to the dogs, because Delphine's ear was suddenly filled with yaps and barks, the noise grew quieter as Sarah brought her phone back to her face, "Shut up!" she yelled to the dogs, who didn't seem to care about their owner's demands, because they continued to bark just as loudly, "Just take one. I'll give you all the supplies you need, I just need them off my hands. They're driving me up a wall," Sarah begged. Delphine sighed,

"Why don't you ask Alison or Felix?" She suggested. Sarah scoffed,

"I've already convinced Alison to take one, and Felix said something about how his landlord doesn't allow pets, which I _know_ is a lie, but he hung up on me before I could call him out on it," Sarah explained, "Come on, don't you like dogs?" She asked.

"Not particularly," Delphine admitted.

"What?" Sarah asked in disbelief. Delphine sighed,

"Don't start, Sarah. I've already heard the 'why dogs are great' lecture from Cosima a thousand times," she said, exasperated.

"Holy shit! I forgot how much Cosima loves dogs! I can't believe I didn't call her first!" Sarah said excitedly. Delphine was about to respond when the line went dead. Sarah had hung up.

Delphine's head snapped forward when she heard Cosima's phone ring from upstairs. She stood quickly and practically sprinted up the stairs. Cosima was in André's room, playing with him and Louise on the floor. Delphine watched from the doorway as Cosima answered her phone, and almost cursed when her wife greeted Sarah. Cosima exchanged pleasantries with her friend for a while until Cosima's face grew more serious. The brunette stood up, giving her children a _one moment_ gesture, and left the room.

Cosima rolled her eyes when she saw Delphine standing in the hallway, a serious look on her face,

"Seriously, Sarah? You asked Delphine, too?" Cosima asked the woman. Delphine couldn't hear Sarah's reply, "I know because she's staring at me like she might tear your head off," Cosima answered. She grabbed Delphine's arm and led her into their bedroom. Once the door was closed, Cosima put her phone on speaker. Delphine listened to Sarah give her spiel again, looking at Cosima almost desperately. Cosima just listened until Sarah finished before she sighed,

"Listen, Sarah, you know I love dogs, but we've really got our hands full here," she said apologetically. Delphine let out an inaudible sigh of relief, beyond grateful that she and Cosima were on the same page. Sarah groaned,

"Oh come _on_ , your kids are almost scarily well behaved. I honestly can't believe you guys aren't _bored_ by how well they behave. They'll be fine with a dog," Sarah reasoned. The two women rolled their eyes at Sarah's almost-compliment,

"Thanks, I guess," Cosima said, "but Louise isn't even walking yet. Puppies and ten-month-olds don't really mix. You know that." They could hear Sarah sigh,

"Alright, fine. I get it. But you guys gotta at least come over. I'm losing my mind over here. These dogs won't stop barking, and they're chewing up all my shit, and I need to talk to a human before I go crazy," she conceded.

And that's how the two women found themselves parked in front of Sarah's house the following day. They had dropped André and Louise off at Felix's apartment before heading over, knowing full well that if their children saw the dogs, they would convince their parents to take one home before the two women knew what hit them. Delphine turned the car off and looked to Cosima in the passenger's seat,

"We're just visiting Sarah," she said warningly. Cosima nodded in agreement,

"Yeah, we're just seeing our friend who happens to have eight puppies. We can resist any temptation that comes our way," she said, leaning over to high five Delphine before the two of them exited the car and walked up to Sarah's house.

Cosima felt her resolve weaken as soon as she stepped through the door and was surrounded by several puppies. The border collies yapped and circled her, Delphine, and Sarah's ankles. Delphine seemed to be charmed by the dogs as well, while Sarah just tried her best to ignore the animals as she led Cosima and Delphine into the living room, cursing as the swarm of puppies followed.

After they sat down and talked for a while, most of the dogs grew bored by their new visitors and scampered off to go destroy some more of Sarah's property. A couple puppies stayed, though: a black puppy and a brown puppy sat quietly on the couch between Delphine and Cosima, panting quietly.

Cosima scratched the black puppy's ears and tried desperately to not get attached. By the looks of it, Delphine was trying to do the same with the brown puppy, who was resting its head in her lap. Cosima looked at Sarah, who was sitting across from them, wearing a sly grin,

"So, where are Cal and Kira?" She asked.

"Kira's helping Alison with some project at her house, Cal's doing something for work. They left me alone with this lot," she said, motioning to the dogs that had scattered themselves around the house, "I can't tell you how good it feels to be talking to a human," she laughed.

The three women talked for a while longer about things like work and kids until the conversation eventually came back around to the puppies,

"Yeah," Sarah said, motioning to the two dogs, who were now asleep on top of each other in Delphine's lap, "I don't know what it is, but those two have been inseparable. They're my favorites of the bunch, actually. They don't chew stuff up or anything, just hang out with each other," she said, that sly smile returning to her face.

Cosima clenched her jaw, _god dammit, this has been Sarah's plan all along_. She looked to Delphine, who was looking at the puppies in her lap with an almost pained expression. Cosima let out a defeated sigh,

"Fine."

And that's how the two women found themselves in the parking lot of a pet supply store, the two dogs sitting in the backseat. An unbelievably grateful Sarah, ' _two? You'll take two?!'_ had given them the basics: collars, leashes, a food bowl and a small amount of food, but they decided to stock up on any necessary supplies before they got home. They led the dogs into the store and put them in a cart and pushed them around the store like they would André and Louise.

After piling a mountain of supplies into the cart beside the surprisingly docile puppies, they made their way to the collar ID maker. It was time to decide the names. Delphine scratched the brown dog's ears,

"Shouldn't we let the kids name them?" She asked. Cosima shrugged,

"Louise can't talk, so I doubt she'll mind, and Andy's gonna be too excited by two puppies he now owns to care. Also, I'm kinda excited to name them," she explained with a smile. Delphine nodded,

"Alright, I'll name this one," she patted the brown dog, who was completely enamored by her, on the head, "and you can name that one," she pointed to the black dog, who had grown quite attached to her wife. Cosima's smile grew even wider as she stepped aside to let Delphine go first.

Delphine tinkered with the machine for a few seconds and pulled the tag out of the slot when it had finished. She handed Cosima the tag. Her wife crinkled her brow when she read the name,

"'Georges?'" She asked. Delphine smiled a little,

"Oui, it's French. Though, the 's' is silent," she explained. Cosima just laughed,

"You _would_ name a dog 'George'." Delphine gaped, slightly offended,

"What? It is a nice name," she defended herself. Cosima just shook her head,

"It is. I like it, it's just very…you," she smiled some more before stepping in front of the machine to take her turn. Cosima entered the letters and handed the tag to Delphine when she was finished. Delphine just scoffed,

"Cosima, how can you make fun of the name I chose for Georges when you want to name her ' _Ripley'?"_ Cosima rolled her eyes,

"Ripley's a cool name, you know it."

"And so is Georges. It is a respectable, professional name. Ripley is the woman from that Aliens movie," Delphine elaborated, looking at Cosima like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Cosima's mouth fell open in disbelief,

"Okay, first of all, it's ' _Alien_ ', and second, Ripley's a badass, and so is she," Cosima pointed to the black dog, who was panting happily beside her brother in the cart, "It's a good name. So is Georges," she finished, throwing her arm around Delphine in an attempt to make peace. Delphine smiled and pushed the cart towards the front.

An hour or so later, after Cosima and Delphine had gotten the dogs set up and settled in their new home, they went to pick up their children from Felix's apartment. Felix opened the door, holding Louise at his hip. He took one look at Cosima's face before his eyes widened,

"Oh my god, you took one, didn't you? You took a dog," he asked in disbelief. Cosima and Delphine's silence was answer enough, "Okay, you, I can understand," he pointed to Cosima, "but _you_ ," he looked to a sheepish Delphine, "I thought you'd be better at exercising control, and keeping her from adopting a bloody dog as soon as Sarah asks." The two women hung their heads lower, Cosima scratched the back of her neck before mumbling something. Felix looked back to her, "What was that?" Cosima hung her had a little lower,

"Two," she mumbled a little louder, taking Louise from Felix, "we got two." The man threw his head back,

"Two? You took _two_?!" He practically yelled. They didn't have time to answer before Delphine saw André trotting up behind his uncle,

"Quiet, we want it to be a surprise," she said before looking back to her son with a big smile. The boy ran up and hugged his maman, who picked him up and kissed the top of his head. The family said their goodbyes to Felix, who mouthed _good luck_ at the two women before they headed downstairs and outside to the car.

André looked around the backseat,

"Why is there so much hair on the seat?" He asked immediately. Cosima smirked at how perceptive the boy was,

"I don't know why. Maman, do you know why?" She asked Delphine, who played along and shook her head.

When they pulled up to their house they took their kids out of the car and stopped in front of the door, Cosima looked at Delphine, who was holding Louise, excitedly before looking to André,

"We have a surprise for you guys," she announced. André's face lit up, "go ahead and open the door," she motioned at the front door with her head. André wasted no time in throwing the door and racing inside.

The boy found the dogs asleep side by side in the middle of the living room. He rushed over to them and laughed excitedly, looking to Cosima and Delphine in disbelief,

"Can we keep them?" He asked, his smile taking up his whole face. Cosima laughed,

"Yeah, buddy, we can keep them," she knelt down beside the boy and the waking dogs, "the brown one's Georges and the black one's Ripley," she explained.

Delphine sat down next to her, Louise still in her lap. Georges gave the baby an experimental sniff before he rested his head on Delphine's knee. Cosima watched André and Ripley roll around on the floor together, the boy laughing happily as the dog licked his face. She'd have to remember to thank Sarah for the dogs later, because it was shaping up to be a pretty good idea.


End file.
